I'll start off by noting that it is possible that I might have been able to rate this one higher if I hadn't already read a lesbian themed book* involving music. Heck, they both had superstar musicians who, for one reason or another, have been out of the spotlight for 6 or 7 years. One because of cancer, this one, the other because the woman's life fell apart due to the actions of others - her druggy band mates, death of abusive girlfriend, motorcycle accident, etc. And then both get talked into going back on tour. Both hiding who they were when they started. Both taking a smaller role on stage, though they had had a larger one in the past.

And so . . .. Without that vaguely similar other book that I read recently, this or last month, I might have rated this one higher. Maybe.

Right. So. Harder to do a review now. I kind of accidentally read too many books at once there (which is another thing to consider when looking at my rating).

This is my second book by Richardson, and the second one I thought was solid, but not outstanding. A solid 3 and a half star book. I will, more than likely, try another.

Let's see. Erika Alvarez is an up and coming new talent. Of Texas origin. Second generation Mexican immigrant. Parents pushed her to study piano and wished her to go into a professional concert pianist career. And saw/see singing, popular music in general it is assumed, though specifically singing (so potentially including opera) to be on the level of trash. Of a prostitute. Naturally this created a conflict between Erika and her family.

And so. She's going on tour of "little" concert festivals around the country. And she, apparently, has no band. Though many youtube videos. I say that she has no band because she's just about to start the tour and has only herself. And a drummer. Who is only her drummer because she, the drummer, lost a bet. I've a strong belief that I recall the drummer's name as being something like Sloane. But I could be wrong. This drummer is a high ranking, go-to drummer that top names call up to back them up. So Erika is starting off with at least one top talent behind her. But still needs a guitar player.

Which is where Dess Hampton comes into the picture. Sloane badgers, strongly desires that Dess 'help' Erika. By going on this summer tour. As her guitar player. Dess, as I vaguely noted in the opening paragraph, was a fabulously successfully singer/songwriter who had been at the top of her game, with many many music awards, when she suddenly exited the industry. Mostly because of cancer. Or, depending on the time of day, mostly because her agent, Dayna, was a bitch and dumped her when the cancer took Dess's singing voice. Right when Dess needed support the most. Which hurt even more since Dayna was also Dess' girlfriend. So, Dess is deeply deeply scarred, emotionally and mentally (initially put scared there meaning to include an extra r, I fixed, but note that she was also scared, scared of going back on stage, scared of being ridiculed, scared of . . . everything, including life in general). Naturally she is reluctant to go out on tour in this hair brain scheme.

One thing or another, including Erika's fabulous breasts, or was it the fabulous singing talent? Dess saw several of Erika's youtube videos after being badgered by Sloane to do so. Well, to look at one video. One video lead to another and . . ..

I probably would have been quite happy to have enjoyed this book better if it had gone a different direction at one specific point. I forget if it was at the half way mark or not. But somewhere around there. Lovely little story and then . . . Dayna returns to the picture. I could have done without that whole turn to the story. Cannot really say more without using spoiler tags. But I will say that if the story had continued down the road it had been on, I probably could have given this closer to 4.5 stars. The whole Dayna diversion probably did not, on itself, cost the book 1 whole star. But it certainly didn't help. ( )